


The Infinite Loops: Miraculous Ladybug

by AnonLife



Series: Miraculous Starts [4]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Akumatized Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Angst, Brain Damage, Confused Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Crazy Marinette, Dark Ladybug, F/F, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Insanity, Marinette-centric, Paralysis, Paranoid Marinette, Time Loop, happy marinette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-30
Updated: 2017-05-30
Packaged: 2018-11-06 19:33:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11042853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnonLife/pseuds/AnonLife
Summary: “Insanity is relative. It depends on who has who locked in what cage.” -Ray BradburyLike so many that came before her, Marinette finds herself trapped in the Infinite Time Loops. What’s a girl to do when she’s stuck repeating the last year over and over and over again? Probably go a little insane.





	The Infinite Loops: Miraculous Ladybug

**4- Infinite Loops  
**

* * *

1.1

Marinette groggily shut off her alarm as she peeled her heavy blankets from her face. In the distance, she could hear the sound of her maman’s admonishment, “Marinette! You’re going to be late for your first day back at school.”  
  
Wait…  
  
Suddenly, the dark haired girl jumped up, all traces of grogginess banished. Her room was... _different_ .  
  
Gazing around wide-eyed, the young woman couldn’t find any trace of her many pictures of Adrien or her recent projects. Photos of her and Alya that should have been haphazardly posted around the walls were missing. Everything _seemed_ familiar, but… older?  
  
Almost as if nothing had ever changed… As if the day she had become Ladybug had never happened.  
  
Why was this happening?  
  
The last thing she remembered was bringing Adrien’s book to The Great Guardian. Tikki was adamant that the book held important secrets about the Miraculous and needed to be returned to the rightful caretaker. Just as the door closed… and nothing.  
  
Reaching up with a shaking hand, Marinette felt her ears were bare. The earrings that transformed her in Ladybug were gone.  
  
Tears began to well up in the teen’s eyes as images of Tikki and Chat Noir flashed across her eyes. Battling akuma, finally sticking up for herself to Chloé, falling in love. An entire year of experiences... of her life...  
  
How could this be? Was everything just a dream?   
  
Finally, the dam burst and Marinette felt her cheeks become damp. Falling to her knees, she hugged herself tightly, wishing and hoping that this was just a nightmare. Hoping and pleading to have her friends back. The pain of their loss felt like a stake driven into her heart.   
  
“You could have them back…,” a deep voice whispered in the back of her mind.  
  
Through the dark haired girl’s blurry eyes, she could almost see a figure in the distance. So overwhelmed with her emotions, the young woman didn’t question his appearance. Nodding desperately, she clawed at the air in front of her, trying to reach him.  
  
“Dreamer, I am Papillon. I give you the power to make your dreams a reality.”  
  
Darkness warped and coalesced around her body. The energy twisted her form into a shimmering cascade of colors and sparks. A smirk danced across her lips as her dreams became a reality and the real world faded.  
  
No one ever woke up.  


* * *

1.2  
  
Marinette groggily shut off her alarm as she peeled her heavy blankets from her face. In the distance, she could hear the sound of her maman’s admonishment, “Marinette! You’re going to be late for your first day back at school.”  
  
Wait…  
  
The dark haired girl flailed violently, as waves of déjà vu and horror fluttered through her mind. Unfortunately, her natural clumsiness taking over and sending her toppling over the railing of her lofted bed.  
  
BANG!!!  
  
A horrible wave of pain coursed through the young teen’s body. Opening her mouth to scream, she felt a rush of vomit. The burning stomach acid coated her lungs, forcing her to sputter and choke. Breathing, rapidly, became more difficult and darkness began to creep along the edge of her vision.  
  
Just before she lost consciousness she heard screaming, “TOM, DIAL 112!”  
  
Floating in the black abyss, colors and shapes danced across her vision. She wanted to reach out to the colors, but her arms wouldn’t move.  Something long and uncomfortable made itself known in the back of her throat; and, she could feel a rush of air inflating her lungs. Hurried voices speaking an unintelligible language came and went while a loud, steady beeping echoed through the darkness.  
  
After an endless moment, Marinette blinked and color began to wash back into her surroundings. She still felt ever so tired and a dull pain seemed to radiate from the back of her head.  
  
Darting her eyes to and fro, the young girl could see her parents at her side. They looked terrible. Her papa was crying and his mustache was ungroomed. Her maman’s eyes were bloodshot and hair disheveled.  
  
As the black began to cloud her vision again, Marinette wondered why she couldn’t feel her parents’ hands.  
  
Weeks passed by and the young girl saw many people come into her room. They asked her questions; but, she didn’t understand and her mind would drift... Floating and dreaming, the colorful light of the television would always draw her eye, particularly two people that wore funny outfits… She wanted to reach out and touch them, but her arms would never listen.  
  
Eventually maman and papa took her back home; and, even let her stay in the living room. She got to watch the TV every day and see her two favorite characters fighting pretty monsters. It was nice.  
  
One time the red one with black dots and the black kitty even came inside her house. But, the red one didn’t look right. They also brought a bad kitty with them that made Marinette’s parents cry. Marinette didn’t like it when her maman and papa cried. It made her sad and tired.  
  
The young girl felt so tired, she couldn’t even keep her eyes open. She could hear the red girl crying, too just before it all just went away.  


* * *

1.3  
  
Marinette groggily shut off her alarm as she peeled her heavy blankets from her face. In the distance, she could hear the sound of her maman’s admonishment, “Marinette! You’re going to be late for your first day back at school.”  
  
Wait…  
  
The dark haired girl recoiled into the corner of her bed, pulling her knees to her chest as far as they could go. Rapid, shallow breaths escaped her lips as she began to hyperventilate. Her memories blurred together in a mish-mash of horror.  
  
Nearly three years of experiences with everything starting the same. How could this happen? Was she a superhero? An akuma? A brain-damaged vegetable!?  
  
“Merde. What’s happening to me?” Marinette whispered as she rocked herself back and forth to calm down. If akuma were real, she couldn’t let herself become a victim. She was too dangerous.She knew too much and Papillon would be able to _use her_ .  
  
Taking one last shuddering gasp, the dark haired girl slowly crawled to the steps by her bed, being mindful not to fall over the edge. Even if she was fairly certain the whole thing was a particularly detailed nightmare, there was no way that she was going to chance it.  
  
Slowly, she walked down to the living room, still trying to figure out what was real and what wasn’t.  
  
“Marinette, are you okay?” her maman asked, worriedly. “I know you’re worried that Chloé will be in your class again; but, if there are problems, we can talk to Monsieur Damocles.”  
  
Tears began to well up in the young girl’s eyes; and, she rushed forward to grab the older woman in a hug. The comforting embrace gave her just a small semblance of control. As the minutes ticked by, Marinette found herself drifting off once more.  
  
When she finally awoke, the dark haired teen opened her eyes to find herself laying on the living room couch. Images of a giant stone monster were being replayed on the television next to the unfamiliar face of a spotted girl in red.  
  
“No…,” Marinette whispered as her memories began to superimpose. “This isn’t _happening_ . This isn’t _right_ . That’s supposed to be me. _I’m_ Ladybug. That’s supposed to be me. _I’m_ Ladybug.”  
  
As the tears began to pour again, she felt the comforting embrace of her parents, wrapping their arms around her, and the world began to blur.   
  
She soon found herself surrounded by reassuring face, but, when Marinette tried to explain everything about Tikki and the three sets of memories, all she got were looks of sympathy and regret. Their infuriatingly calm voices insisted that she was sick and needed medicine to help make the memories go away.  
  
No matter how much she begged and pleaded, no one would believe her. She was locked away.  


* * *

1.4  
  
Marinette groggily shut off her alarm as she peeled her heavy blankets from her face. In the distance, she could hear the sound of her maman’s admonishment, “Marinette! You’re going to be late for your first day back at school.”  
  
Wait…  
  
The dark haired girl woodenly pulled herself out of her bed and walked downstairs. Her eyes were filled with paranoia that a burly orderly would suddenly jump out and inject her with another sedative or force a dissolving tablet into her mouth.  
  
“Marinette, are you okay?” her maman asked, worriedly. “I know you’re worried that Chloé will be in your class again; but, if there are problems, we can talk to Monsieur Damocles.”  
  
Nodding slowly, the young teen eyed the older woman with suspicion. It would not be the first time they used her mother or father to try to distract her while they sent a sneaky nurse to ambush her blind-spots. It was strange that no one had tried to force her morning medication down her throat yet.  
  
Seeing no obvious shadows that could be a person, she calmly kept her mouth shut and examined the silver cutlery  at the kitchen table. Normally, they kept forks and knives away from the residents of _The Ward_ . It was strange…  
  
“Hurry and eat so you can get dressed!” Sabine encouraged, warmly. A large smile was still present on her face. “You only have thirty minutes before school starts.”  
  
Mechanically, Marinette just nodded and went about doing what her maman asked. Maybe this was just another ‘delusion’ like Dr. Rousseau talked about in her counseling sessions; but, it felt so real. Sitting at the table, drinking chocolate milk, eating her papa’s freshly baked croissants. Everything felt _normal_ .  
  
When she heard her father humming the French National Anthem as he presented her with a box of pistachio macarons, she felt an older memory hit her with déjà vu. Hugging and kissing her parents goodbye, the dark haired girl ignored the slightly concerned looks on her parents’ faces as she slowly walked out the door.   
  
Then, just as she reached traffic light, she noticed _him_ .  
  
A feeble looking old man in a red Hawaiian shirt and tan pants was slowly making his way across the street. A red sports car turning the corner began to zip down the lane as the elderly gentleman walked into it’s path.  
  
Instantly, Marinette dropped the box of macarons carelessly to the side and helped the man out of the way.  
  
“Thank you, mademoiselle. Oh, what a disaster!” the elderly man exclaimed, noticing her discarded confections.  
  
However, the dark haired girl hardly paid them any mind. Emotion mixed with just a touch of hope blossomed in Marinette’s eyes as she stared at the _very_ familiar man. She wanted this to be true. She wanted this to be real.  
  
She reached down to grab the box and offered some of the few unbroken macarons to the elderly man. Before she realized it, the familiar words softly escaped her lips, “Don’t worry. I’m no stranger to disaster. Besides, there’s still a few left.”  


* * *

1.5  
  
Marinette groggily shut off her alarm as she peeled her heavy blankets from her face. In the distance, she could hear the sound of her maman’s admonishment, “Marinette! You’re going to be late for your first day back at school.”  
  
Wait…  
  
“Merde!” the dark haired girl swore loudly eliciting Sabine’s scolding from downstairs.   
  
Why was this happening to her? Was this the work of an akuma like Chronogirl? Had she angered some vindictive God and this purgatory was her punishment?  
  
The annoyingly familiar sight of the older version of her room made her want to slam her head against the wall. Growling with frustration, the young teen pulled at her pigtails, wracking her brain for some kind of guidance.  
  
A jolt ran through her system.  
  
If she needed guidance, this was the perfect chance to talk to Master Fu! Now that she was fairly certain this wasn’t a series of horribly imaginative nightmares, maybe he would be able to help her figure this out. Obviously, whatever was going on was much more than she could handle by herself.  
  
Plastering a smile on her face, Marinette walked downstairs and accepted her mother’s mini-lecture about cursing and the now familiar plan, “If there are problems, we can talk to Monsieur Damocles”.   
  
The moment the dark haired girl finally was able to step outside, she eyed the now very familiar elderly man in his red Hawaiian shirt and carelessly tossed her box of macarons to the ground. Quickly, she grabbed the old man and escorted him to her side.  
  
“Thank you, mademoiselle. Oh, wha-,” the elderly man started before being cut off.  
  
“We need to talk,” Marinette interjected, letting her eyes convey the absolute seriousness of the situation.  
  
Master Fu stared back and nodded firmly, beckoning the young woman to follow him back to his massage parlor. They had much to talk about.  
  
Carefully, the dark haired girl explained her situation, describing in detail what she knew about the Miraculous to prove herself to the man as well as tidbits about her repeating life. Every once in awhile, the old man would interrupt with a probing question, seeking more details or searching for clarification which she tried to answer to the best of her ability.  
  
As the hours passed, he finally professed his own unfamiliarity with her situation. Despite his role as the Great Guardian, he had never come across anything like this. He gave his firm promise that he would seek out his mystical contacts and confer with the Kwami to determine if they ever heard of the phenomenon she described.  
  
When they finally parted, a familiar octagonal box was pushed into her hands along with his firm confidence that they would overcome both Papillon and whatever was happening.   
  
She really hoped that would be the case…  


* * *

1.6  
  
Marinette woodenly scribbled on her paper while her best friend gushed about a recent post on the Ladyblog. She knew she was being a bad friend; but, after a year with no answers or progress, the dark haired girl was left feeling both bored and annoyed.  
  
Had this been her first life, she would have at least tried to be polite, but hearing the exact same story about ladybugs and their connotations to luck for a third time left her mind numb. Every time Alya go into her Ladyblogger Mode, the teen found herself drifting off to ruminate about her messed up life more and more...  
  
“Girl! Are you listening to me?” Alya sassed playfully, waving her hand in front of the other teen’s face, snapping her out of her stupor. “You’re always so spacy and bored.”  
  
Giving a tight smile, Marinette tried her best to look contrite. “S-Sorry. All this talk about ladybugs just got me thinking about superheroes and all the weird stuff that happens to them.”  
  
A burst of gleeful laughter escaped the Ladyblogger’s lips and she reached over to grab her best friend in a hug.  
  
“I _knew_ I’d finally convert you!” the copper haired girl exclaimed with excitement. “You’re like the least excited out of anyone in the entire class about Ladybug and Chat Noir. Now, we can finally talk about them!”  
  
Plastering a smile to her face while internally grimacing about having to participate more in her friend’s obsession, Marinette was struck with an idea.  
  
“Hey… Alya?” she ventured, pondering the best way to describe her situation in just a few words. “Hypothetically, if you were Ladybug and you were stuck in a time loop and couldn’t figure out how to get out… what would you do?”  
  
The sudden question seemed to throw the aspiring journalist for a loop, sending her face through a myriad of vacillating emotions as if she was hotly debating herself.   
  
This went on for many minutes and the dark haired girl began to worry that she opened Pandora’s Box. She _really_  hoped Alya didn’t jump to the wrong conclusions.  
  
Finally, the copper haired girl resolutely nodded to herself; and, Marinette felt her anticipation peak.  
  
“I would do _everything_ necessary to track down Papillon and get the answers from him. After Chronogirl, this just screams his involvement,” the Ladyblogger shrugged, quickly reverting back to her normal self. “What about you?”  
  
Marinette gave a wry smile as images of the last years flashed before her eyes. With everything that had happened between getting akumatized and barely figuring out that this wasn’t all a series of horrible nightmares, she really _hadn’t_ done much to go after her nemesis...  
  
“Oh… I guess I’d do the same…”

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> AN: I’m a big fan of the concept of the infinite time loops. There have been tons of different versions of this concept in different fandoms; but, I wanted to bring it to Ladybug with one specific detail. Each loop is sequential. Below, I’ve also included a summary recap of each loop.
> 
> Chapter Recap and Explanations:
> 
> 1.1. Marinette’s first loop. Distraught over waking up to her worst nightmare, she became Papillon’s first and only victim. Master Fu was immediately caught in the web of her powers and the Miraculouses came into Dreamer’s possession. Thinking they were merely a manifestation of her powers, she activated both the earrings and the ring which broke the mental link to Papillon and  allowed her to remake the world.  
> TL;DR: Akumatized Marinette took over the world.
> 
> 1.2. Despite not knowing all the details, Marinette wakes up with the knowledge that she was akumatized and something very bad happened. The shock sends her flailing off her lofted bed. After landing awkwardly on her head, she is rushed to the emergency department where the injury is diagnosed as a spinal fracture and a brain bleed. Paralyzed from the neck down and plagued with cognitive delays, Marinette never makes a meaningful recovery and is placed in the living room so her parents can take turns caring for her. When Animan chases Kim into her home, she’s taken hostage and killed when Ladybug and Chat Noir refuse to hand over their Miraculous.  
> TL;DR: Marinette gets permanently disabled and becomes the first casualty from an akuma.
> 
> 1.3. After breaking down in front of her mother, Marinette passes out and misses the opportunity to prove herself to Master Fu. When she awakens, an unfamiliar face is wearing her costume and the gravity of this realization hits her. Tom and Sabine take Marinette to the hospital where the psychiatrists listen to her ramblings about being Ladybug, Kwami, and alternate memories. She is diagnosed with Delusional Schizophrenia and intermittently kept in the psych ward because she refuses to take her meds and loudly talks about her ‘delusions’.  
> TL;DR: Marinette is locked in the psych ward of a hospital for thinking that she’s Ladybug
> 
> 1.4. Marinette wakes up paranoid that she really has had a mental breakdown. Carefully, so as not to arouse the ire of any hidden nurses, she plays along with her parents’ wishes and makes her way to school. As soon as she steps outside, the young woman spots the very sight of Master Fu and repeats her original life by rushing forward to save him. Relieved that she isn’t actually crazy, Marinette convinces herself it was all just a horribly vivid nightmare and an eerily accurate prophetic dream. Still afraid and paranoid, she keeps all talk about her memories of the past loops to herself lest she be committed to the psych ward again.  
> TL;DR: A slightly paranoid Marinette runs through a near replica of her original life, being mindful not to have a repeat of 1.3.
> 
> 1.5. Marinette is finally certain that her life is simply repeating in a loop and seaks out Master Fu at the earliest opportunity to find out if  Speaking to Fu yields no answers except a promise of research into her predicament and more hands on help with her Ladybug training. Together they spend the next year tracking down every possible esoteric magical manuscript to try to find something remotely similar. Unfortunately, by interrupting the normal chain of events, her Chat Noir never receives his ring; and, Adrien never gets to come to school.  
> TL;DR: Marinette asks Master Fu for help in figuring out what is happening to her.
> 
> 1.6 Depressed and bored from the repeats, Marinette is at a loss for what she can do to escape the torment of the time loops. After speaking to Alya, she hatches a plan to use the loops and track down Papillon to find out if maybe he’s responsible for her predicament. Even if it wasn’t in the normal purview of the Miraculous, she didn’t want to rule out the possibility that he was the cause.  
> TL;DR: Alya gives Marinette the idea to take the fight to Papillon.


End file.
